UFC 163 Predictions

The UFC is back in Brazil this weekend at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. There is a Brazilian in every fight on the card and you can bet the crowd will be behind their fighters in the loud arena. The PPV card gets underway at 10pm ET on Saturday night.

UFC 163 Best Bets

• Bet on Ednaldo Oliveira -127 (SportBet) vs. Barroso

Ednaldo Oliveira (13-1-1-1) lost his 1^st career fight against Gonzaga in his UFC debut at heavyweight. Oliveira is now a LHW and he takes on Francimar Barroso (15-3) who is making his debut with the UFC on short notice after Drysdale got injured.

Oliveira has the power advantage and a massive 7’’ height edge. Closing the distance will be difficult for Barroso plus his chin is questionable, as his 3 losses have been by TKO/KO. Oliveira has to avoid the ground game, but if he does that I think he wins.

• Bet on Phil Davis +319 (SportBet) vs. Machida

This is a ½ unit bet on Davis because I can’t seem to get him out of my head. Davis has a 5’’ reach edge that he needs to utilize to land jabs and leg kicks regularly to score points. Once Machida tries to close in the distance Davis has to shoot for the takedown.

Leaving this fight in the judges scorecards isn’t ideal, but at over 3/1 odds I can’t pass this up for a ½ unit. He has the tools to win this fight and get that first “big” win against a top contender. This is his chance to beat Machida in Brazil and earn that victory.

UFC 163 Parlays

Normally I have more straight bets and only one parlay, but this weekend there are a lot of big favourites that I like. Underdogs haven’t been hitting as well for me lately, so for UFC 163 I’ve bet multiple parlays that I’ll share with you below.

• Parlay #1: Aldo + Magalhaes + Ferreira + Yahya + McCall +160 (Pinnacle)

These five favourites I can’t see losing at UFC 162 and this is my biggest bet this weekend. Aldo and Yahya should dominate. I’m also very confident that Magalhaes can win against Perosh, as Magalhaes is a better grappler and Perosh won’t have an answer.

Ferreira is definitely better than Santos, but Ferreira hasn’t fought in over a year and there may be some cage rust. McCall is still winless in the UFC, but he has fought tough competition each time. He now has a fight he should win by stoppage.

• Parlay #2: Aldo + Magalhaes + Ferreira + Yahya + McCall + Oliveira + Watson +868 (Pinnacle)

I’m also going to add Oliveira and Watson onto my 2^nd parlay to beef up the payout. Watson has a tough fight against Leites on the main card, but I was impressed by Watson in his last fight and Leites hasn’t fought in over a year now, so he may be rusty.